how to control negative thoughts, what to do in an anxious moment
although of advice and this so involved in these issues i have also gone through moments of anxiety in which i could not control my thoughts and in those moments I did not know how to react it seemed that the world was ending, until after watching many videos, reading and listening to podcasts I learned how to control and gradually i got it, so i want to share with you my methods to control negative thoughts and what to do in times of anxiety. as i always emphasize, i am not a professional on the subject i only speak from my own experience and i consider valuable everything i learned I think it can help you that's why i share it. you are always open to asking about this topic but in the end, the ones who have to solve their problems and heal themselves are you, my advice or any type of therapy are only complements, the power to heal is yours since you are the one who controls your life, not others.
negative thoughts have no real power over us, but the repetition of certain thoughts can affect our life so it is important that the first step is always to detect them to start working on them and replace them with the thoughts that we do want to have, about us and our life.
to do this we can write on a piece of paper all the recurring negative thoughts that we usually have and then the opposite, those thoughts that we are going to start implementing in our life.
for example:
i am ugly > i am beautiful
i never have money > money flows into my life with ease
no one loves me > i am surrounded by people who love me
it is also important to detect where these thoughts come from, did someone tell you? was it because of something that happened to you? whatever it was it is best to forgive it and let it go and focus on what you do want in your life.
a very common mistake that i also made is when a problem arose was to focus constantly on how to "solve it" and i kept thinking about the problem and every time I had more thoughts of the same style, i felt worse, so it is important to always focus on the positive, although it seems complicated at first it is possible, it is like a habit, it has to be unraveling. the next time something happens to you try to act differently and see what happens. when you act differently you break the pattern you were repeating for a long time and things change.
now i will present some ways how we can do this and deal with anxiety.
the first thing is to calm down, for this, we can do a series of breaths, inhale 4 seconds, hold for 7, and exhale in 8, this breathing pattern aims to reduce anxiety and connect with our breath will help to calm those thoughts. we can also meditate, there are short meditations to relieve these feelings and help us focus on something else. It is important to be present while doing these activities.
when our body and mind feel more relaxed we can continue meditating as this can help us to forget about the situation or do other activities.
to cope with this problem or thought we can write in our diary how we feel about it. we will see it from another perspective and minimize the problem. we will come face to face with our fears and this will make them smaller. remember to write down everything you feel, you will feel much more liberated, and doing this every time you have these kinds of thoughts will help you to make them disappear and not to react negatively.
if you do not give power to these thoughts, they will disappear. but to do this it is important to identify them.
some questions extracted from my own diary can help.
what am i feeling?
what situation or thought has made me feel this way?
was it something real or something i imagined?
is it the same pattern that i keep repeating?
how can i break this pattern?
what thoughts do i have to change?
how do i want to feel from now on?
write down how i would like to feel at this moment and the next time something similar happens again.
what am i going to do/think to continue feeling this way?
if you want you can write affirmations.
then what i did and it also helped me was to do another activity that distracted me. It could be cooking, organizing your room, taking a shower or a bath, doing skin care, even if you feel like going out for a walk, doing some exercise, meeting or talking to someone who encourages you or any activity that keeps you entertained.
but the most important thing is to be aware of your behavior and be willing to change it, do not get carried away by those thoughts that cause you discomfort, and ask yourself, do i really want to feel this way every time something like this happens to me (for example your personal situation)? wouldn't you? so now that you have this information, as brief and simple as it may seem, you have the power to change it, you have the power, no one else. you are responsible for what you think and feel, don't let anyone or anything get in the way of that. it may also help to listen to audiobooks on the subject, they can give you more clarity and even feel like a support.
hope this will be of great help to you and you can apply it in your life. if you are consistent and start focusing on what you like instead of what you don't, this will change.
